New Delhi, October 29
The Delhi High Court has directed the Delhi government to allow operation of Blueline buses in south Delhi, where the launch of cluster bus service is being delayed.

South Delhi is the first area in the Capital where cluster bus service will start in November-last or in the first week of December. A total of 231 buses will be launched under the service.

According to the general secretary of the Blueline Bus Ekta Munch, Shyamlal Gola, the court asked the government why Blueline buses were banned before starting the cluster bus service.

The court ordered the government to allow 231 Blueline buses to ply in south Delhi.

However, Delhi transport minister Arvinder Singh Lovely said the government had not yet received the court order. The government will also put its views before the court after going through its directions, he said.

"Every four months, the government goes to the court to seek extension of permission to allow plying of Blueline buses in Delhi. The next time the government goes to the court, it will explain that it now has sufficient number of DTC buses and so it does not need Blueline buses," he said.

Meanwhile, at a meeting of the DTC held today, it was decided to increase the frequency of the buses.

For this, the DTC pressed into service 800 more buses today. Yesterday, only 4,200 DTC buses were on road, sources said.

According to sources, the DTC has 6,500 buses. Of them, 1,500 are still lying in depots.

Sources said the transport department today promised to provide adequate number of DTC buses during lunch time, as for the past two three days the department has been receiving complaints that very few DTC buses run during lunch hours.

On the shortage of DTC drivers, Lovely said the corporation will have 5,000 new drivers by November 14.

The DTC has also announced to recruit new drivers on 89-day contract.

These drivers will be paid on the basis of the distance driven by them. For 2,250 km, a driver will be paid at the rate of Rs 4 per km, for 2,500 km, Rs 6 per km and for 2,750 km, Rs 7 per km. The sources said a driver would be paid minimum of Rs 900 a month. The maximum age of the driver should be 50 years and his driving license should at least be three years old. Blueline bus drivers will also be given a chance.

Sources said at present, the DTC has 9,350 permanent and 2,930 on-contract drivers and 9,050 permanent conductors and 3,600 on contract.

The DTC requires 2.5 drivers for each bus, which means that it needs more than 13,000 drivers for the total number of buses that it has.

New Delhi, October 29
Thousands of commuters on Friday had a harrowing time on Delhi Metro's Dwarka-Noida route due a technical snag in the computerised signalling system.

Trains on the Dwarka-Noida/Anand Vihar routes were running late by 30-40 minutes following the snag.

"The problem started around 9 am due to loss of train identification numbers and bunching of trains on Line 3/4 - Dwarka-Noida/Anand Vihar. Since then we have been operating trains manually," a Delhi Metro Rail Corp (DMRC) spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said experts were working to sort out the problem.

Entry at Anand Vihar Metro station was stopped for some time following the huge rush on platforms.

Thousands of office goers had a tough time following the delay in Metro services and extended travel time.

"I come from Dwarka. Generally it takes 40-45 minutes to reach Rajiv Chowk. Today, it took me one hour 15 minutes. Moreover, the coaches were so crowded that it was suffocating," said Soni Singh, a media professional.

Many left the Metro at stations midway and took auto-rickshaws to reach their workplaces. — IANS

New Delhi, October 29
A group of robbers last night entered a house in west Delhi's Uttam Nagar and murdered the owner when he resisted them, the police said today.

The deceased has been identified as Sanjay Sharma, an employee of a private electronic company.

The incident took place around 10 pm in house number A-27 of Mohan Garden Colony.

Sanjay, 38, was returning home from market along with his wife Suman and son Manu when he noticed that the lock at his main gate was broken.

He rushed to his house and found robbers inside. One of the assailants was filling jewellery in a bag. When Sharma stopped him, he fired at him with a gun and ran away with the booty, said the police.

Sharma was shot in the chest. He was rushed to the Mata Chanan Devi Hospital in Janakpuri where doctors declared him dead.

A case has been registered against unknown persons.

Sharma's body has been sent to the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Hospital for postmortem, said his elder brother, Pradeep Kumar.

New Delhi, October 29
After four days of no classes in Delhi University, students can breathe a sigh of relief as the Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) today withdrew its strike against the implementation of semester system after the Delhi High Court appealed to the union members to not hold students' careers to ransom and follow university rules.

Later in the evening, DUTA held its general body meeting and asked teachers to return to classes, but teach in the annual mode.

Also, the teachers have decided not to accept any assignment based on semester mode.

Hearing the arguments, the division bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Manmohan asked the counsel for DUTA to file a detailed affidavit along with the Supreme Court rulings on the teachers' strike on November 15, the next date of hearing.

The ongoing brawl between the DUTA and the university administration has reached court for the second time this year.

This time, the hearing is taking place on a PIL filed by one Prof. M.R. Gupta, seeking action against teachers who have been on strike since October 25.

Meanwhile, the general body meeting of DUTA also warned the university authorities on its order to suspend the principal of Kirori Mal College Bhim Sen Singh for implementing the staff council's decision of teaching in the annual mode.

The general body further appealed to all college bursars to not sign any paper which involve non-payment of salaries to teachers following the annual mode of teaching.

Greater Noida, October 29
"The government of India has various schemes aiming at transforming the nation. The nation today requires expertise to help charting out ways in which such initiatives can be implemented. The public, private and civil society need to uphold the spirit of giving back to society," President Pratibha Patil said in a recorded inauguration message screened at the opening of conclave. The conclave will conclude on October 31.

The President was scheduled to inaugurate the conclave at India Expo Centre here, personally. But her visit was cancelled as the administration was unable to provide her with adequate security due to panchayat elections in the district.

The conclave has been organised by IIT alumni. The event's theme is 'Sustainable Transformation - Our New India'. It focuses on good governance, knowledge-based economy, innovative, equivalent and happy society.

Addressing the gathering, Arun Seth, chairman Steering Committee of PanIIT 2010, said that this time was all the more important as it coincided with the golden jubilee year of IIT Delhi and IIT Kharagpur. The theme of the conclave is apt considering the contribution of the premier institution in developing skills.

Inaugurating the three-day conclave, Farooq Abdullah, minister of new and renewable energy, said that the mankind had realised that it had to go back to natural resources to sustain itself. It is imperative for the country to work hard to produce cheap, sustainable and good renewable products.

Sam Pitroda, advisor to the prime minister, stressed on the concept of 'New India' that will overcome the challenges of disparity among urban and rural, rich and poor and demography and development. He said, "Only inclusive growth could transform India and the knowledge commission is working to install IT at all levels of operation. For this, we need large amount of data centers, platforms and numerous innovation councils that will work 24x7 to benefit India's 30 million illiterate population and 400 million people below the poverty line."

Gurgaon, October 29
Gurgaon police commissioner SS Deswal has asked the authorities of the local schools to report the incidents of child abuse instead of suppressing these.

"Child abuse is a serious matter and the Gurgaon police has maintained a zero-tolerance policy towards such incidents," Deswal maintained in a statement issued here today.

Refering to a recent report of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), he pointed out that the number of complaints about child abuse has nearly tripled in the past three years.

The police commissioner pointed out that a number of cases of child abuse take place on school premises, adding that every such incident needed to be taken seriously and reported to the police.

"Many a time, the school authorities tend to suppress or hide such incidents to protect the reputation of their institute," he observed and added that if it was found that the school authorities had tried to conceal an incident of child abuse, strict legal action would be taken against them.

Deswal asserted that the school staff and children needed to be sensitised about the issue of child abuse and the children should be encouraged to report any such incident to their parents, school counselor or senior police officers.

He asked the schools authorities to display the contact numbers of the Police Control Room (100; 0124-2316100) and Child and Women Helpline (0124-2335100) on the school notice board, buses and other prominent places on the school premises.

Defining child abuse, Deswal said as per the law, it included causing or permitting any harmful or offensive contact on a child's body and any communication or transaction, which humiliates, shames or frightens the child.

New Delhi, October 29
A city court has awarded seven years of rigorous imprisonment to a priest convicted of raping a schoolgirl in 2004.

Holding Prem Dass guilty under Section 376 (rape) of the IPC, additional sessions judge Sanjeev Aggarwal said, "Dass did not consider that by doing so he would shake the religious belief of the public as well as the conscience of society which holds priests in high esteem."

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 on Dass.

While awarding the prison term to Dass, the court relied on the testimony of the victim terming as "cogent and consistent".

The judge pulled up the police officials concerned for not proving the fact that the victim, a student of class VIII in a government school here, was a minor at the time of the incident.

The priest raped the victim in May 2004 when she had gone to a temple at Narela. The prosecution claimed that the accused had threatened her not to disclose the incident to others. The victim further said that the priest continued to rape her for 9 months. Later, she informed her parents about the incident who lodged an FIR.

New Delhi, October 29
A 30-year-old woman allegedly set herself on fire after a dispute with husband in the Begumpur area of outer Delhi today morning.

According to the police, the woman, Tilotama, has been admitted to the Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital with over 70 per cent burn injuries and her condition is said to be critical.

New Delhi, October 29
The outer district police arrested two Nepali servants who allegedly decamped with over Rs 12 lakh, after poisoning their employers. The arrest was made last night.

According to the police, the accused identified as Khadak Bahadur and Prakash Bahadur had committed the crime in Gurgaon on the intervening night of October 23-24.

The two from Kathmandu live in JJ colony, Shakurpur here. The police has seized Rs 3.5 lakh from them.

DCP (outer) Chhaya Sharma said the duo was arrested yesterday evening on a tip off. The police learnt that two Nepali servants involved in the loot would be coming to Samaypur Badli Railway Station.

"Initially, both tried to mislead the police, but on sustained interrogation they confessed to have committed the loot, after serving poisonous food to their employers in sector 31, Gurgaon," said Sharma, adding that a case was registered in Gurgaon.

Khadak and Prakash had allegedly served poisonous food to three persons. When the victims fell unconscious, they allegedly broke the safe and fled with Rs 12.77 lakh. The crime was committed in the office-cum-residence of a construction firm in sector 31, Gurgoan.

One of the victims survived, after struggling for four days at a hospital.

A hunt is on to arrest their accomplices -- Deepak, Rajesh and one of the uncles of the accused men, who are also from Nepal and have no specific accommodation in India.

During the course of interrogation, the accused disclosed that they used to work as domestic help or bar attendant or waiter.

"They agreed to commit the offence for money. Deepak had told them that he had committed such crimes many times and was never apprehended. It was Rajesh and their uncle who provided them with poisonous substance to mix in their employers' food. On October 23, they came to know that their employer had kept huge cash in the safe. It was then that they planned to commit the crime," said Sharma. She added that they mixed the poisonous substance in the employers' food and committed the loot.

A small part of the booty was distributed among Khadak, Prakash, their uncle and Rajesh, while the rest was retained by Deepak, who is allegedly their gang leader.

New Delhi, October 29
The Delhi police has arrested four youths who turned burglars after losing money in cricket betting, cops said today.

The accused have been identified as Anil Verma (25), Vikas Jain (22), Danish Ahmad (24) and Sumit Sharma (23). Jain holds a degree in computer applications.

With their arrest, the police claims to have solved more than five cases of burglary.

The boys were arrested on Wednesday from Chirag Dilli, deputy commissioner of police (South) H.G.S. Dhaliwal said.

Verma, the leader of the gang, was arrested from a hospital where he was admitted for a leg injury that he sustained during a recent burglary carried out by them.

The accused had come to give Verma his share of booty when they were arrested.

The police has recovered 100-gram gold ornaments, two silver bangles, two laptops and Rs 55,000 from them.

All the accused are neighbours and wanted to live a lavish lifestyle. But since their families had limited means of livelihood, they took to cricket betting to earn quick money. However, they suffered huge losses and had to borrow money from a money lender. Subsequently, to clear their debts, they started committing thefts in the neighbourhood. They then formed a gang and started operating in Chirag Dilli, the police said.